CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper writer, feature stories writer, poet, fiction writer, photographer, and painter. She maintains a blog at https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com. She has a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and completed all of her poetry and fiction workshops required for her Master’s in Creative Writing with a focus on poetry. She, her husband Wayne, sons Nicholas and Caleb, cats Nation and Alaska reside in the St. Louis area.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Chris Rice Cooper On The New York Times Bestseller LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly . . .

Lilac Girls takes place between 1939
to 1959 and is told through the viewpoint of three women, all based on real
life figures: Caroline Ferriday in New York City, Kasia Kuzmerick (loosely
based on Nina Iwanska) in Poland, and Dr. Herta Oberheuser in Germany.

Caroline, an ex-Broadway actress, single, and
wealthy philanthropist, has dedicated her life to helping those in need. Lilac Girls begins in September of 1939 with
Caroline living in New York City, working at the French Consulate by day, and attending
fancy parties by night, where she meets the rich, political, and the famous,
from Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Rockfellers, Marilyn Monroe, and Senator John
F Kennedy.

Caroline Ferriday

However, the person who captures her heart is not
the political and rich, but the fictional French actor Paul Rodierre, whom
Kelly modeled after three actors:Alain
Delon, Olivier Giroud, and Romain Duris.

Alain Delon

Olivier Giroud in 11/2013 Fair Use Under the United States Copyright Law

Romain Duris in 2014 CCBYSA 2.0

“I have a feeling you don’t work for the money.”

“It’s an unsalaried position, if that’s what you
mean, but that’s not a question asked in polite society, Monsieur.”

“Can we dispense with the ‘Monsieur’?Makes me feel ancient.”

“First names?We’ve only just met.”

“It’s 1939.”

“Manhattan society is like a solar system with
its own order.A single woman dining
with a married man is enough to throw planets out of alignment.”

Seventeen-year old Kasia, is helplessly in love
with Pietrik and joins him in the Underground Resistance Movement. Kasia, her
sister Zuzana Kuzmerick (loosely based on Krystyna Iwanska), their mother Matka
Kuzmerick, Pietrik, and others are arrested.

Nina Iwanska

Krystyna Iwanka

The whistle screamed, long and high, as
the train slid into a station.

Matka pushed through the women and stood
with me.“What do you see?”

I held her hand.‘Sign says Furstenberg-Mecklenburg.”

There were women on the platform, blonde
giantesses wearing hooded capes over their gray uniforms.One threw a cigarette down and squashed it
with her boot. A few held dark Alsatians at their sides.The dogs seemed to anticipate our arrival,
watching the train cars go by much as a pet waits for its owner.Had they done this before?

“Germany,” a woman behind me said,
craning her neck to see.

Luiza cried out. The train whistle
screamed a second time, and my breath again started coming hard.

Matka held my hand tighter.“Must be a labor camp.”

“I can see a church steeple,” I
said.The thought of the Germans of that
town sitting in church on Sundays with their hymnals was comforting.

“God-fearing people,” said someone.

“Furstenberg?” said Mrs. Mikelsky.“I know it.This is a resort town!”

“As long as we work hard, we will be fine,”
Matka said.

I curled my hands around the iron window
bars to steady myself as the train lurched to a stop.“At least they know the commandments,” I
said.

None of us knew how wrong we were that
morning as we stepped out of that train and fell headlong into hell.

Ravensbruck Housing For The Women

The three Kuzmerick women are sent to Ravensbruck,
the only concentration camp reserved for women and children, where they cross
paths with Dr. Herta Oberheuser, the newest surgeon selected to conduct experiments
on 74 Polish women.

Dr. Herta Oberheuser standing trial for her war crimes against humanity.

These women, which include Kasia and Zuzanna,
are called the Rabbits, a name given them because they were Nazi experimental
animals and hopped after being forced to endure inhumane operations.

An Unidentified Rabbit.

The Rabbits are bathed, placed in clean beds,
their legs shaven, given aesthesia, legs cut open, and then drenched in
bacteria with dirt, splinters, glass, and other foreign materials, causing
their legs to swell with increasing pain, chronic thirst, and dangerous and
sometimes fatal fevers reaching all of their infirmities.Days later the plaster from their legs are
removed, their wounds scraped clean with no aesthesia, and then treated with various
experimental drugs.

Rabbit's legs after inhumane operation

The purpose for these so-called medical
experiments was to discover the best drugs to treat Nazi wounded soldiers.

There were a few things that surprised me as a
reader, the first, was that a historical novel about devastating atrocities
could be written in colorful, vibrant, and poetic language.Kelly masters the art of similes and
metaphors that add to the pleasure of reading the novel, while maintaining
great storytelling, and all without diminishing the evil that occurred.

An example of this descriptive and rich writing is via Dr. Herta’s
voice when she describes the hands of her former medical school classmate and
real life Ravensbruck Doctor Fritz Fischer.

Dr. Fritz Fischer

“Don’t you know you’re not allowed in the officers’
canteen without permission?”Fritz
said.He lit a cigarette with a gold
lighter, his hands white and almost incandescent, as if dipped in milk.Hands you might expect to see on a famous
pianist.Hands that had never touched a
spade.

The second was I assumed the three women knew one
another or cross each others path.That
is not the case.Caroline and Dr. Herta
never cross paths.Dr. Herta and Kasia
cross paths in 1941.Caroline and Kasia
cross paths in 1957 when Caroline along with other rich donors, sponsors to
have the Rabbits travel to America to receive top rate medical evaluation and
medical treatment.

Ravensbruck Rabbits who traveled to America in 1958

Ravensbruck Rabbits in 1959

Thirdly, I assumed the three women on the cover
were Caroline, Kasia, and Dr. Herta, but the three women on the cover are the
Kuzmerick women.

I would have liked to see Caroline on the cover
especially since its title comes from the over 14 varieties of lilacs she
helped grow in the gardens of her family home, the Hay, in Bethlehem, Connecticut,
and last but not least, she is the founder of the Ravensbruck Rabbits
Committee, and savior to these women.

The Hay

Caroline tending to the garden at The Hay

Lilac Garden at The Hay

I would have liked to see Dr. Herta, evil as she
was, on the cover since she is one of the three narrators of the novel.

The perfect cover would be to have all three
speakers of the book represented:Caroline
and Kasia arms linked and walking in unison it the same direction, and, in the
background, Dr. Herta wearing her white surgeon’s uniform, the swastika
displayed on her sleeve.And perhaps the
Kuzmerick family ring on Kasia’s finger.

Fourthly and lastly, I never realized the
severe PTSD, mental illness, desperation, and survival guilt these Rabbits, particularly
Kasia endured after the so-called liberation in 1945.Their pain goes beyond the boundaries of
physical pain, affecting the spirit and the mentality of these women.

Ravensbruk Liberation in February of 1945

Most of Kasia’s pain stems from the events surrounding
the arrest, disappearance, and mystery of her mother. This mystery and guilt she carries of her
mother is more debilitating than the chronic pain she feels in her deformed
leg.

Nina Iwanska

Rabbit's leg

The chapters alternate between the three women,
each chapter ending at a high cliff note – leaving you hanging on a roller
coaster, impatient to know what happens next.The suspense is intense because the order is Caroline, Kasia, and Herga
and by the time you find out what happens with each woman, before you reach the
end of the chapter, you are hooked again.

One of the most intense scenes is toward the end
of the book when Kasia, with Caroline’s help and direction, finds Dr.
Herta.What occurs is intense, explosive
and leaves the reader at the edge of his/her seat.

Dr. Herta Oberheuser standing trial for crimes against humanity

In the end, literally to the last page of
the 494-page novel, Lilac Girls is
Kasia’s story, not one of despair, survival guilt, or unbearable pain, but one
of triumph and victory.

Kasia, along with all the other Rabbits
and women who endured the Holocaust, are the Lilac Girls, and they will forever flourish and grow for the
betterment of all humanity.

1 comment:

Gorgeous place, I just went here with someone. The place itself was beautiful and spacious, the seats were comfortable and wide. From where I was sitting at Chicago event venues, the views were great. I think the music really did a great job of filling up the space.